75g reef tank build

[Spankege101]

Hello everyone. I jumped into this hobby with a massive 8 gallon rimless cube with a 10 gallon diy sump. Was having issues with the light that I purchased for my tank. Long story short I was dreaming up a larger tank and since have been obtaining equipment over the last year. Since my light went out I figured what the heck lets do it!
Here is my current system pushing 600gph total of 16 gallons

Here is my equipment.
- 75 gallon Marineland tank, reef ready with overflow kit
- Marineland stand (I will post pictures when it comes)
- diy canopy
- 4x 64 watt t-5 with 2x 250 metal halide fixture with lunar lights
- proflex 4 sump
- Eshopps pf-200 skimmer
- mag drive 9.5 return
- 70 pounds of live sand
- 40-60 lbs of rock some live and some bulk
This is what I have so far I have my hydor ato and some power heads in my Amazon cart. I think I will add the hydor wave maker also.

Let me know what you guys think.
-cody

 

[Spankege101]

Alright so made a bit of progress today. Built the frame for the light and I need some input as to the height of the light. It is 12 in above the top of the water. Not sure if it's to far. Here are some pictures.

 

[Chrisq0904]

Can't wait to see what this turns into. As far as the height for the lights I can't answer I have no experience with MH. I would wait for someone else to chime in or check with a par meter if you have one.

 

[Spankege101]

Maybe I will have to look into a par meter. Have any ideas for an ro/di system. Looking at getting the bulk reef supply one. Or the aqua safe Canada one. That's pretty much my last purchase than this thing is good to go!

 

[Fogvalley]

That's gonna be nice

 

[Crush Coral]

Hey. most keep their light 4-6 in above the h2o. You can see the light spread out against your back wall. That said u also have a lot of light for a 75 so i think u can aford to loose some and this set up should give u nice access to your tank. Painting the inside of your hood white might reflect some of that light into the tank too. looks good.

 

[Spankege101]

Alright so just a small update. I plan to make some adjustments to the canopy. Want to bring the light down about 4-6 inches. My dual reactor came from bulk reef supply. Such a fast delivery! I ordered the aqua safe 7 stage rodi system today, should be here next Wednesday. Stand comes Thursday. If all goes right I will have the tank plumbed Friday night and water in it by next week Thursday. That is my goal! Need to order my hydor ato and one more hydor pump then a hydor wave maker and I have all my equipment! Will post pictures of the stand when it comes.
I will need help with aquascaping. Taking ideas!

 

[Spankege101]

So the stand came in last night. So now the fun begins! I will be putting everything together and taking pictures. The only thing I am waiting on is my rodi system. I think I will order the hydor ato and wait on the wave maker the ato will make keeping this 75 up that much easier. I also got a great deal on some bulk rock so I will be testing out some Aqua scaping and see what I like

 

[Spartanman22]

I personally would keep the light around 8-10". I ran the same light on a 75 and had it at 4-5" and it was a pain in the *** getting in and out of the tank. That light will provide TONS of light to all areas of the tank. The extra couple of inches will make getting in and out of the tank much easier with little to no loss in light.

 

[Spankege101]

This would be the basement as it currently sits. Huge mess! But lots going on.

Stand finally came

Was able to water test my sump. Used that water to bleach some gross rock.
Here is my aquascape I plan to do.

On the left side I have a large live rock in my current tank that will create another large cave. I have about 30 more pounds of live rock in my sump and curing in buckets, Should look good. Spent most of today planning. Going to put carpet underneath the sump to help with vibrations I also needed various plumbing parts always fun taking an extra trip to the store.
Got all my sand and heaters. Just waiting on my rodi system and ATO. Should be here by next week. Thanks for checking it out.
-cody

 

[Spankege101]

Alright got an update here

Had to take the center brace off the stand and lower the sump into it but we got them together. Now I have an issue with the overflow being so close to the sump. I will take a picture tomorrow. The plumbing that came with the proflex 4 is super log and I need it to reach about 6 in anyone have an ideas for that?

I also received some more equipment! Hopefully these work out for me. Also picked up a few more Marineland circulation pumps from work. They were on clearance I'll post those tomorrow also. Rodi unit comes tomorrow or Wednesday, then I can start making water!!
-cody

 

[Spankege101]

I forgot to add, should I just hard plumb the sump? I don't want to go any smaller than 1in. Anyone have any input on this?
-cody

 

[Spankege101]

Figured out my issue with the sump I will post pics when it's done.

Rodi system Is here and put together need to get a fitting tomorrow then I can start making water!
-cody

 

[Spankege101]

Unit leaked a little bit. Still has some small leaks. I need to fix them yet. Otherwise it's good to go. Anyone know what the ratio is. Seems like it's taking a long time to make water. Maybe 10 gallons in 3 hours. Is that normal?

 

[Mishri]

that would be 80 gallons per day, if it's a 100gpd it's running a little short, you might have low water pressure? Or it's the break in, aren't you supposed to run them for an hour and get rid of the first gallon or 2? Been awhile since I setup a new one.

 

[Spankege101]

I ran it for about 15 minutes. Maybe that wasn't enough? I tested the water it was 0tds

 

[Mishri]

I'd expect you should be good then. Maybe low water pressure. It might also be it wont be producing it's maximum efficiency till later on, as it breaks in less waste water is made and more good water...

 

[Spankege101]

Doesn't help that there is a few leaks. Thanks for the response! I am getting a leak from one of the canisters. Should I use tape on it or maybe it's to tight?

 

[Mishri]

like plumbers tape on the threads? Should be good... My old room mate did that with all of his connections, I didn't use any and I was fine.. Till my cat chewed up the hoses.

 

[Chrisq0904]

I don't know if it's too late to chime in about the plumbing, but I am also setting up a new tank and I'm right around you as far as progress. But I have 5-6" soft tubing right off the pump and then everything else is hard plumbed.